British Airways plans to fly to the US direct from other European cities

BA and the British Airline Pilots Association jointly expressed a "strong desire" to reach a peaceful outcome.

Earlier, Balpa members voted to strike over what they said were plans to staff BA OpenSkies with crews on inferior terms to those of existing staff.

Balpa, which represents 3,000 BA pilots, says 86% voted to strike.

The turnout in the vote was 90%.

BA and Balpa issued a joint statement after a meeting at the airline's headquarters near Heathrow airport.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We welcome the progress made today and are confident that a settlement can be achieved through conciliation which will protect our customers from the possibility of disruption.

"We are proud of the professionalism and high reputation of our pilots and have never sought conflict with them."

Negotiation

Balpa general secretary Jim McAuslan said: "The ballot result shows the strength of feeling of our members about the implications of the creation of OpenSkies.

"We have no quarrel with the travelling public and have always maintained that these issues could be resolved through negotiation rather than confrontation."

Balpa says the terms and conditions at the new BA OpenSkies venture will drive down those for pilots flying BA's main fleet.

But British Airways denies trying to undercut its pilot workforce and says the creation of OpenSkies will not "in any way affect their current pay and conditions or threaten jobs".

Under the Open Skies agreement, the US and EU regulatory authorities eased restrictions on air travel. Now, any EU-based airline will be able to fly from any city within the EU to any city within the US.